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Bread

Vienna Bread

A yeast‑leavened roll made with Vienna flour, milk, butter, and egg, baked at 400°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Vienna Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the dough

  1. Cream the yeast and caster sugar together.

  2. Warm the butter in a saucepan.

  3. Add the milk until lukewarm.

  4. Mix the warm milk and butter with the yeast.

  5. Sift the flour into a bowl.

  6. Pour the yeast mixture into the flour.

  7. Beat in the egg.

  8. Form a dough.

  9. Cover the dough with a cloth.

  10. Let the dough rise in a warm place for 1.5 hours.

Shape and prove

  1. Knead the risen dough.

  2. Shape the dough into rolls and twists.

  3. Place the shaped dough on a floured baking sheet.

  4. Let the dough prove for 10-15 minutes.

Bake and glaze

  1. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 5 minutes, then lower the heat.

  2. Brush the bread with milk before finishing baking to glaze.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Vienna flour
Provides the gluten network that gives the bread its structure and chew.
Yeast
Produces carbon dioxide as it ferments sugars, causing the dough to rise.
Egg
Adds structure and richness, helping the crumb set and feel tender.
Butter
Adds fat, which softens the crumb and gives a richer mouthfeel.
Milk
Adds moisture and, brushed on top, promotes browning for a glossy finish.
Castor sugar
Feeds the yeast and adds a little sweetness and browning.

The step that matters

Keep the milk lukewarm. Yeast is most active at lukewarm temperatures. Milk that is too hot can kill it, and cold milk slows the rise.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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